Square introduced Square Capital with the idea to help small business owners with more than just swiping credit cards. The loans, usually a few thousand dollars, help businesses that use Square stay afloat and stay ambitious.
At the end of Women's History Month, Square has some interesting data about how its loans are being distributed. Most of Square Capital's funding is going to women — particularly young women.
Of all the Square sellers who have accepted a loan from the payments company, 54 percent are women and 46 percent are men.
For millennials, or the 18- to 34-year-old group, that difference rises to 60 percent women and 40 percent men.
“With the number of women-owned businesses in the U.S. continuing to rise, improving and expanding access to capital is essential to enabling growth of these businesses. We are excited to see that among young businesses owners accepting funding through Square Capital, a large percentage are women, and that we are delivering on the factors both women and men value most when seeking capital: flexibility, trust and speed,” Head of Square Capital Jacqueline Reses said in a statement.
The average loan awarded through Square Capital is around $6,000 — way smaller than loans business owners could secure through a bank. Most sellers use loans of this size to purchase inventory, buy new equipment or fund day-to-day expenses. Square surveyed 7,000 sellers who have accepted loans to find out who was using Square Capital.
The numbers from Square show who is accepting loans from Square — not who's being offered them. The survey found that women business owners placed more value on a few aspects of loans provided by Square compared to traditional bank loans: flexible repayment terms (tied to daily credit card sales already reported to Square), trust and fast deposit of funds.
Of course, women also have a harder time securing small business loans from banks. The National Women's Business Council found that women start their businesses with half as much capital as men and that only 5.5 percent of women use bank loans to start their businesses, compared to 11.4 percent of men.
The only age group of Square business owners where more men that women used the payment company's loans was among ages 55 and older.
